


And If All Goes Right...

by MeredithBrody



Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 07:09:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13921977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: Kendra doesn't want Lyor to be alone after his space camp disappointments.((Title from "Map & Compass" by As It Is))





	And If All Goes Right...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PinkAngel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkAngel/gifts), [Hideous_Sun_Demon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hideous_Sun_Demon/gifts).



> 2x12 made me ship these two about 75% harder. That last scene. Oh my word.

Lyor hadn’t been having the best of days. There was something about thinking about his past that always brought out this maudlin part of him. He also knew that the entire senior staff was tired of hearing about his time at space camp, but that hadn’t stopped him talking about it and, he would admit, obsessing about it a little. “Hey, you ready to go?” He heard from the doorway, somehow unsurprised to see Kendra there but still surprised that she had come back after finishing whatever it was that she’d been doing in the wake of this leak to find him.

“Are you checking up on me again?” He asked, trying to keep his tone light but knowing that she’d see straight through it. He didn’t feel comfortable enough, for the most part, to let the others see him like this, but Kendra was different. At first she hadn’t been, then right there on her first day she’d found strengths in him that she didn’t have and used them to everyone’s advantage. It had helped them develop this working relationship and, Lyor thought, the friendship they had too.

“Someone has too.” She grinned, letting Lyor know that that was a joke. It definitely helped that she had figured that part of his personality out without him ever needing to say anything. She waved to him again and stayed where she was stood, clearly not planning on taking no for an answer. “Come on, I’ll make you some dinner and we can talk about your rocket. Maybe we can try and make it fly.” That grabbed his attention.

“What do you know about it?” If Kendra understood the aerodynamic and mathematic principles that were involved in this, maybe they could vindicate eight-year-old Lyor and prove that he would have been able to make his little rocket fly. It would be even more rewarding if he got to do it with a friend.

“Not much, but it’s something you could teach me.” Kendra’s smile brightened, and Lyor had to admit that the idea of being able to teach her was fascinating and he loved the idea of telling her the things he knew about. Lyor allowed himself to be bribed by that possibility, and he went to find his jacket as it was far too cold for him to step outside without a jacket. “You know you can hold a grudge for a really long time.”

“I’ve gotten good at it.” Lyor supposed that he needed to learn to let go of things, he was sure that that was what Kendra was going to tell him eventually, but in some ways Lyor didn’t know who he’d be if he didn’t hold some of the grudges, mostly the ones that Kendra had no current knowledge of. “I suppose it helps to do this.”

“Hey, like I told you before… this is important. What you do here is important.” He was close enough to her now that she reached out to squeeze his shoulder. Kendra was a very tactile person, she liked to use gentle physical reassurances to go along with her words to convince people to do what she needed or that they would be fine. This leak had caused so many issues and Lyor wasn’t sure he should be walking out on it.

The familiar guilt of getting up and leaving a job unfinished was gnawing at him. He was exhausted, he really needed a break away from work, but Kendra had reminded him that they were all important and he needed to be doing his part too. “You’re right… maybe I should be staying to try and spin this…?” It was more a question, seeing what she said. He didn’t need her permission but if she said staying was a good idea he’d know it wasn’t just his desire to please everyone that made him stay.

“Lyor… There is nothing more either one of us can do tonight. This needs to be dealt with by communications until tomorrow.” She shook her head and linked her arm around his, clearly deciding that she’d drag him out of the office if he wasn’t going to go willingly. Truth was, he would go anywhere she wanted him too. All she needed to do was ask and he’d be there. “Come on, I’m hungry and I don’t want to eat alone tonight.”

“I’m probably not the best company, Kendra.” He wasn’t saying that to refuse her offer, but more to remind her that he wasn’t the nicest person at the best of times. He knew that there was a reason most of the staff mocked him or avoided him when they weren’t directly working together but he tried not to let that get to him. Kendra was one of the only people he could actually call a friend and he didn’t want to chase that away.

“You’re the best company for me right now.” She gave the arm she still had linked a squeeze and pulled his office door behind her. It was a relief to have someone making him do something sensible, like eating and sleeping. When they were faced with as many constant crises as they were, forgetting to eat and sleep was far too easy. “Come on, I’m not letting you alone.”

“Alright, you win.” Lyor let out a theatrical sigh and just let her lead him through the building and out to the parking lot. Kendra was stubborn when she set her mind to something and that was clear when she was making sure that he was taking care of himself. Also, he knew that Kendra was a good cook and he was looking forward to seeing what she was going to make.

The journey to her place was filled with discussion of their next crisis. Neither of them could do anything about the leak until the morning. Tonight it was all about the public relations issue, tomorrow legal and politics would come into it, and that was where Lyor and Kendra would need to work together to protect the office of the Presidency. They continued that discussion through dinner, and it wasn’t until they were both collapsed on her sofa, companionable in the silence that they let surround them. Lyor just watched Kendra as she read something on her phone, her legs lent over his knees as she spread out. There was one thing he didn’t understand, and that was simply why she was here, or more specifically, why he was here at her request. “How come you always spend time with me?”

“What?” Kendra asked, turning her head to look at him. When he looked back at her there was no pity, which he’d been expecting. He couldn’t imagine that she would have missed the fact that most of the senior staff avoided him and _all_ of the junior staffers did, she wasn’t blind. It certainly tended to make her unique among those they worked with.

“Most of the senior staff… even Emily… they don’t exactly seek me out when we aren’t working on something.” He wouldn’t pretend that it didn’t hurt that one of the people he’d known longest and thought was his friend had distanced herself since he arrived. The only person who sought him out was the one he’d known the least.

“They miss out. I enjoy our evenings.” Kendra smiled and leant back against the cushions and just gave him the look he’d seen her give a particularly interesting briefing book. “We’re the only people in the world who know what it’s like to be on the presidential staff for _this_ president. It’s not an easy job.” Lyor narrowed his eyes as she shrugged a little and motioned at the air. “Seth, Emily, Aaron… they were all there at the start, right after the bombing. You and me… we came in later and we weren’t here for that instant bonding so we gotta stick together.”

“How do you always know what to say?” Lyor asked, truly meaning it. It didn’t matter what was going on and who she was talking to, Kendra Daynes just had the ability to put people at ease and let them know that things were going to be okay. No matter how much of an asshole Lyor was to her she still didn’t run away from him and leave him to fight it all on his own. She was there and she didn’t leave him behind.

She snickered, however, and just shook her head. No matter how hard she disagreed Lyor knew the truth. “I don’t. I put my foot in it a lot.” She then chuckled louder and poked him with her foot. “You just put your foot in it a lot more. Like. A lot more. Kinda enough for three people.” Even Lyor had to laugh along with her at that. “You don’t need to always have that front up at work, Lyor.” Her voice dropped to a more personal level, even though they were alone in her apartment and nobody could overhear them.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable enough to do that.” Lyor couldn’t explain it even to himself, but he’d never been comfortable with anyone to be himself before now and he still couldn’t be at work. “You do always know what to say though, and you’ve saved everyone’s ass more than once since you started working here.” Sure, Lyor had only been there a couple of weeks before her, but he knew what had gone on before that. “You’re always here when I need someone to talk too, too.”

“Maybe I just like being around you,” Kendra replied instantly, and there was a warmth that spread through Lyor hearing that. He wasn’t sure anyone else had ever been that plain with him about how they felt about being around him. “You don’t treat me any different after Christmas. Emily, Seth… even Aaron… they were _trying_ to be normal and that meant that they weren’t.” Lyor wasn’t stupid either, he knew that being the only one out of any of them to have seen Alex Kirkman after the accident had affected Kendra more than she let on, but Lyor had never seen why people acted differently following something like that.

“You were with the First Lady, that probably sucked… but you’re still you, why would I treat you any differently?” It was a genuine question because Lyor just didn’t understand it at all. He especially didn’t understand it when it came to Kendra because she was not someone he could imagine coped well with being coddled. “You’re the smartest and strongest lady I’ve ever met. I knew you’d get through it.”

“That’s the nicest thing anyone has said about me in a long time.” She replied, and Lyor heard the emotion that was added to her voice as she said that. He wondered what he’d said that had made her voice quake in quite that way, but he was sure that he’d either work it out or she would outright tell him.

“It’s just the objective truth.” He continued, and he would keep saying it until she saw herself the same way he saw her. Nobody should ever feel they weren’t good enough. “I don’t meet many people who can argue with me at all… even less who can do it over and over and normally win.”

“I’d say we win an equal amount.” Kendra laughed, and Lyor had to smile at the red tint to her cheeks as she tried to cover her face a little. Maybe she wasn’t used to getting compliments the same way he wasn’t used to having someone there for him. “I’m going to be blushing until the morning if you carry on flattering me like this.”

“It’s not flattery when it’s the truth.” Lyor didn’t actually believe in flattery. He said what he saw, with Kendra that just tended to be the good. “You’re so smart, Kendra, and just so lovely all the time to everybody. I don’t think I’ve heard you raise your voice-“ The rest of Lyor’s point was swallowed up by the gentle press of Kendra’s lips to his. He hadn’t been expecting that and he felt his body pause and stiffen. The immediate fight or flight reflex fading almost as quick as it had come on, but not quick enough for Kendra not to notice.

“Sorry.” She whispered and pulled back, removing her legs from his lap, where they’d been for the entire conversation and turning her body a little so she was facing into the room. “I shouldn’t have done that and now it’s just awkward and I just am not used to anyone talking like this and I-“ Lyor took the chance and leant forward to kiss her back, lifting a hand to rest on her cheek as he let the kiss linger for a second before he pulled away a few centimetres.

“Be quiet, just for the moment.” He smiled, stroking her cheek softly before pulling her closer for another kiss. There were plenty of things they would still need to speak about, but Lyor was happy to just let this develop tonight. Neither of them were really the kind of person to rush into something so they could take this slowly. Lyor was excited to see where this was going, and he felt like he’d met the perfect person to explore all this with.


End file.
